Who's Been Cooking in my Kitchen?
by SASundance
Summary: It's Thanksgiving and the LOLs are back. Rae, Lil and Carla are cooking for the holiday and Tony is bringing a very special guest to dinner. Meanwhile a case threatens the whole teams plans to spend time with family and friends. Then disaster strikes and the LOLs' kitchens are out of commission and they have a heap of food. What's a little old lady to do?
1. Chapter 1

Rating: T mainly for the odd bit of bad language.

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own NCIS or any of its characters but the LOLs are all mine.

Beta: Kudos to Arress who came up with the Thanksgiving idea to bring Carla, Lil and Rae back again and she Beta'ed the story, provided her usual support. I've messed with the story again after she wrangled my punctuation into behaving so any boo boos are definitely my bad. Look forward to your feedback.

Who's Been Cooking in my Kitchen?

A/N Although this is a belated Thanksgiving story, better late than never. I've been looking for an opportunity to bring the LOLs Carla, Lil and Rae back again and thought that this was a good opportunity. As I am still working on it I decided to post it in two parts. Hope you'll enjoy spending some time with the LOLs again and I couldn't resist inviting a favourite character to dinner. As I'm not an American and have never celebrated the holiday, writing about it was somewhat challenging. And for any Aussies that are reading this, cyber cookies if you can correctly identify the writers little ethnocentric references in this chapter.

This story is AU as I needed to alter the timeline in order to include a favourite character. So this takes place early in season three and Cate is still with the team as Twilight hasn't happened yet and therefore there is no Ziva.

Part One

Tony was seated at the dinner table of one of his favourite ladies as he tucked into a steaming plate of soup. Thursday night was comfort food night with the LOLs, as he jokingly referred to them, although Lil, Rae and Carla told everyone that asked, and even those that didn't ask, they were his grandmas. A happenstance which always provoked reactions in people thus informed ranging from outright disbelief to fond amusement since there was absolutely no homogeneity between the three little old ladies or LOLs, and definitely no resemblance to Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. Lillian Cramer was the archetypal storybook granny, all soft round curves, snowy white hair done up in a bun and pin curls, her friend, Carla Santiago, was a tall Latino octogenarian that was about as soft as polish marble, at least on the outside. The final member of the trio was Raelene Jones who was a tall thin African-American lady in her early eighties, all sharp angles and incredibly wiry.

Thursday nights were always something to be looked forward to for all four of them since they loved to coddle him with home cooked food and attention. Even though Tony didn't have a lot of practise when it came to being cosseted, the LOLs had been working on him for a while now, trying to convince the little boy inside the closed off man that he was worthy of their affection and efforts. They took it in turns to make dinner for him once a week and tonight it was Lil's turn to cook dinner for him, if he succeeded in getting away from NCIS at a civilised hour.

Lil watched him intently, her faded blue eyes glowing with satisfaction and affection as he devoured her cooking like he'd never had a decent meal before. Seeing she was watching him, Tony smiled back at her fondly before also extending the smile to include his two other favourite ladies.

"Eat up, Tony. There's plenty more where that came from," she smiled indulgently. "Then there's pot-roast and apple pie for dessert," She informed him, sensing that his mind was somewhere else during this revealing of what was on the menu.

Carla took a spoonful of the rich beef, barley with root vegetable soup and nodded appreciatively. "S'good soup, Lil. Add a little chilli and it would be perfect," She commented, continuing a decade's long debate that the three friends had shared about each other's cooking.

Rae weighed in, "Nonsense, Carla, chillies would overpower the subtlety of the flavours although I do think that mustard greens could enhance the richness without overshadowing the other flavours."

Lil exchanged a placid smile with Tony before responding. "Oh, get on with you. Do I try to teach your grandmothers to suck eggs?" She asked her friends. When they looked confused, she rephrased it. "Do I come to your apartment, sit down at your table and eat the fruits of your labour and then have the bad manners to tell you how you could improve your secret family recipes? Well, do I?" She demanded glaring at her friends.

Laughing at the outraged expression of her two friends, Tony joined the discussion. "Umm yeah, Lil, you kinda do."

Laughing as well as she conceded, "Well, maybe… but only because I'm the superior cook," She boasted, ignoring outraged snorts of laughter and eye rolling from her two long-time friends.

The three of them had been living in the same apartment block for over 15 years and were very close friends. Each of them had been there for each other when they'd been widowed, or in Rae's case, finally tossed her good-for-nothing husband out on his ass after one floozy too many found their way into her bed when her back was turned. So, they'd been a much needed lifeline for each other and they'd now considered themselves to be family. And like any good family, they had their petty squabbles and attempts to one up each other, especially when it came to cooking.

More than four years ago, they'd adopted a young waif who had moved into their apartment block from Baltimore to become a Federal Agent. He had no family (well, none that bothered to stay in contact with him), he seemed to be everyone's friend, and he would give them the shirt off his back if they asked, and insist they take it anyway even if they didn't. Women adored him and clamoured to go out with him and he seemed to be an incorrigible flirt and was always dating, yet he was very wary of anything but the most superficial of social contacts. Of course, the LOLs understood that most of the fault of Tony's standoffishness could be laid at the feet of one young music teacher who he'd been seeing when he first came to DC.

Wendy Miller had hurt their surrogate grandson when she agreed to marry him and then left him the night before their wedding. He'd also hinted that he'd left his old job because his partner had betrayed his trust, and this was reason enough to distrust people and not want them getting too close. So, they watched sadly as Tony went out with a new girl more often than most people changed their bedclothes, sad because they knew it was a sign of how much he was hurting.

Sadly, they could see how lonely Tony really was even if his so co-workers, who were supposed to be brilliant investigators, seemed well and truly fooled by his playboy persona. But oddly enough, Lil thought, he'd slowly allowed them to worm their way into his life and affections, and after his injury several years ago where he'd been attacked while coming to the aid of a young street kid, they'd appointed themselves his protectors. What was distressing to Lil and her friends was just how clueless Tony was about accepting even the most simple of kindnesses, and yet he was so genuinely concerned about other people's troubles and needs. She didn't like the implications; both what it implied about his childhood experiences and how he lived his life now, and the LOLs redoubled their efforts to spoil him and make up for an impoverished childhood.

When he'd arrived at her apartment a while ago, it was obvious to Carla, Rae and Lil, who knew him well, that he had something on his mind. Rae finally decided to take the bull by the horns and she smiled at her two friends before plunging in.

"What's up, Hon?"

Tony started and looked guilty, then embarrassed. "Sorry, ladies, I'm not being a good guest tonight. My apologies. And considering the wonderful food and beautiful company, that's a crime. Bad Tony!" He scolded himself jokingly. "Just thinking…I know it's rude to ask, but I was wondering if it would be okay to bring someone to Thanksgiving dinner?"

The LOLs all smiled. Tony never formally introduced any of his girlfriends to them, so perhaps he had finally met someone who had got inside his defences.

Carla was first off the blocks. "Silly boy, of course you can bring a guest. You don't have to ask… we would love to meet your special lady."

Tony looked at her with a look of horror and panic on his face before he was able to effectively mask it with his usual happy-go-lucky nothing fazed him expression. "Um, no… it's not a girl, Rae."

Lil exchanged a look with Rae and Carla. Was Tony trying to tell them something? Wondering who would pick up the slack, the tall angular Hispanic octogenarian squared off her shoulders and took a deep breath and the other LOLs sighed in relief. After all, her grandson had come climbed of the cupboard a few years before. Strange expression that, Lil mused.

"There's nothing wrong with loving a man, Antonio, if it makes you both happy. We'd be honoured to meet your special friend."

Tony stared at his borrowed Grans like they had two heads before he started giggling wildly. Finally seeing their distress and confusion, he pulled himself together so he could explain. "Oh, sorry, my lovely LOLs, but I think we have our wires crossed. I don't want to bring a 'special friend' to Thanksgiving dinner, male OR female. But I met this old guy on a case at work and he's lost his wife and they didn't have any kids and he's all alone."

The expression on his face as he said that made the LOLs long to wrap him in a group hug and take away all his bad memories.

"Anyway, he was a Marine during WWII and he is a genuine hero, won the Medal of Honour for his bravery. And I spent the night with him when we were investigating his case and he's such a great old guy, but he's not coping well being alone, and I know how hard it can be to be alone on the holidays, so I wondered if you'd mind if Ernie had dinner with us? I really think you'll like him." He explained, eagerly tripping over the account.

The LOLS looked at him fondly, but also a little sadly. It was typical of their lad, Lil thought, that he would think about a lost soul he'd met who was suffering and alone. But how sad was it that he was still so hurt by that little piece of work that broke his heart that he couldn't or wouldn't let anyone get close enough to share the holidays with him. Lil knew that his team mates were all heading off to friends or family, and if they hadn't insisted that he come and join them since none of their families would be in DC either, Tony would have probably offered to work for one of the other teams. How sad was that?!

Carla placed her hand, ravished by time and arthritis, lovingly on his forearm. "Of course we don't mind, Dearie," she declared fondly, her voice wavering oh so slightly as she tried not to tear up. Of the three, Carla was the most pragmatic, and as a mother and grandmother, had never been an overly demonstrative person, but somehow without even trying Tony seemed to be able to evoke in all his Grans' reactions that bordered on over top displays of affection and obsessing over him incessantly. So much so that even matter-of-fact Carla practically turned into a pile of goo around him. "We would be proud to meet you war hero and consider it our honour to cook for him." She looked teasingly at the remaining LOLs. "Of course, he might have to eat some dishes that are crying out for a helping of chilli or some jalapenos, but I'll make sure there's lots of properly spicy food for him to enjoy."

~00000~

The MCRT was situated in the bullpen putting the final touches to their reports for the fraud case they'd just wrapped up. In a few hours they would all be on a four-day break and Cate, Tim and Abby would be wending their way home. Tony wasn't sure what Gibbs did on Thanksgiving, but he figured it would probably involve an intimate discussion with Jack Daniels and his partially-built boat in his basement. Tony put down the receiver of his office phone, concerned that Ernie hadn't answered.

When Tony had called to tell him that he was invited to spend Thanksgiving with the LOLs, Tony he could tell how moved the old guy had been even though he didn't say much. Working with Gibbs, the world biggest emotional and verbal iceberg – nine tenths of what Gibbs was thinking and feeling was under the surface, so Ernie's gruff exterior really didn't faze him at all. But Ernie was upset because he wanted to contribute and he said he didn't have the ingredients to make his wife Dorothy's famous pecan pie. Tony had promised to pick up all the fixings for him and said he call back today to get the list.

So, it was almost knock off time and Tony had been ringing him off and on all day. Tony's gut was starting to really bother him and he couldn't wait to head over and check on the Medal of Honour recipient and make sure he was okay. Ever since he'd spent the night on Ernie's couch and seen the love he'd shared with his dead wife and how sad he was, Tony had felt protective of the elderly veteran. He'd made it his business to keep an eye on him and he'd grown genuinely fond of the old guy.

Meanwhile, his constantly calling and not getting an answer had attracted the attention of the rest of the team. Gibbs had balled him out for making personal calls on his time, which was why he'd called now when Gibbs had been summoned to Morrow's office. Cate and McGee had automatically assumed that Tony's repeated phone calls had been to one of his numerous female friends and that she had dumped him.

While a part of him was gratified that his team mates didn't have a clue what made him tick because people he trusted always seemed to betray or hurt him, a part of him was heartsick because his team mates didn't have a clue what made him tick. Still as much as he abhorred being seen as weak, he was also afraid if people learnt how sensitive and vulnerable he really was that they would use that info against him. And really, it wasn't as if he was paranoid. His father always knew how to find his soft underbelly then twist the knife and watch him squirm, and Gibbs was also adept at it, too, as those comments when he found Gunnery Sergeant Altas proved.

So, he smirked and pretended that it didn't bother him that they all thought he was organising his dating schedule for the holiday period while he was supposed to be working. Although mentally he wondered what was wrong with him that people were so quick to believe the worst of him. Perhaps his father had been right about him all along.

Tony looked at the clock again – 1647 and decided to try Ernie again when Gibbs came bounding down the stairs.

"Thought I told ya that personal calls were for personal time, DiNozzo? "Course, if you need more time to organise your social life then that could be arranged, too. Don't need anyone on the team that isn't 100 per cent focused," He barked before giving the rest of the team a look that the juniors couldn't identify, although it wasn't too difficult for Tony to decode.

It was relief combined with purpose, and a little bit of guilt thrown in but all damped down, as if Gibbs didn't want anyone to know what he was feeling. Snorting mentally, Tony decided that was not exactly a new phenomenon. He'd noticed as the day moved inexorably closer to their four-day holiday, how morose, even grumpy Gibbs had become. Now he was almost thrumming with suppressed excitement. It was almost anticlimactic when Gibbs tried to look contrite.

"Gear up, people, Admiral's granddaughter has gone missing, suspected kidnapping and SecNav wants us to handle the case."

Tony looked at his co-workers. Probie's face fell and Cate scowled. "What about Thanksgiving, Gibbs? What happened to our four-day break?" She snarked at him, disappointed not to be going home to Indiana.

Trying to look sorry, but failing woefully, Gibbs shrugged. "There's a young girl missing, Agent Todd."

Cate looked unconvinced. "And I'm sorry about that, but why can't Balboa's team deal with it? Their rostered on, not us," She argued petulantly.

Tony could have told her not to waste her breath, but the snarky profiler would just give him a withering look that made it plain that she thought he was an imbecile. Yet, even a mentally challenged male like him could have told her that when a child was in peril, Gibbs wasn't going to let this one go through to the keeper or in this case, Balboa's team. SecNav might have demanded Gibbs take the case, but he'd lay odds that Gibbs didn't protest much, or at all. It wasn't that Gibbs wanted to spoil his team's plans for the holiday, even he wasn't that much of a bastard… well, not over something like that! It was just that Gibbs loathed holidays…probably even more than Tony did.

The difference was that Tony didn't begrudge his co-workers and team mates their enjoyment of holidays just because he didn't usually have anyone special to share it with. He usually just offered to work for people who wanted to celebrate, and staying busy at work took his mind off what he was missing out on while feeling like at least he was helping those people who could enjoy the holidays. Gibbs, Tony suspected would have been more than happy to be able to eradicate the holidays completely so he wasn't reminded of them. He wondered what had happened to the Boss that he became such a holiday Grinch.

Worried about Ernie, his gut telling him that something was up, Tony bit the bullet and opened his mouth. "Um ,I need to check on someone. I won't be long, I'll meet you all at the scene."

Gibbs glared and took off for the elevator. "Get your ass into gear, DiNozzo. Sure your girlfriend is fine. Just doesn't want to talk to ya."

"Not a girlfriend, Boss. I promise I'll be really quick, but I need to go and make sure…"

"Move it, DiNozzo. SecNav wants the MCRT on the case, all of us. If you want to stay on the team, get into the truck."

Sighing, Tony grabbed his backpack and yelled to the disappearing team, "I'll take the stairs."

While many people would think that Gibbs was just being a bastard, Tony excused his boss' harshness on the grounds that; a) Gibbs hated cases involves kids, and b) Gibbs was a predator, and like a wolf, once he had the scent of his prey or was given a case, he wouldn't rest until he had cornered and devoured said prey. As such, anyone that got between him and his goal did so at their peril.

Pulling out his cell phone as he ran down the stairs he called one of his DC LEO contacts, Officer Trish Lopez. He was going to have to call in one of his favours to ask her to go and check on Ernie since he couldn't check on him personally, but he didn't begrudge it. Not for Ernest Yost, MOH, and unless Tony knew he was okay, he wouldn't be able to focus on the case. "Hey, Trish… calling in a favour. Need you to check on a friend of mine. I'm worried cuz he's not answering his phone and I've just been called out on a big case." He quickly gave her a run-down about Ernie Yost and his address and asked the cop to let him know how she got on.

Diving into the truck he was relieved to see he'd managed to beat the rest of the team, and Cate and McGee looked annoyed that he'd managed to grab the best seat. Of course, he realised that it wasn't really what had upset them; both were crushed that their holiday plans were in ruins. Still, it hurt that they took out their anger by being snarky at his expense. Cate casting aspersions on his current girlfriend – make that fictional girlfriend, and Probie who combined with his disappointment and relative safety from the back of the truck, got a bit too personal about his failure to go home to New York. Frustrated, worried and more than a little hurt with his team mates, Tony contemplated telling them that his so-called girlfriend was Ernie Yost, but he honestly didn't think they'd believe him.

Cate might be a profiler, but as far as Tony was concerned, she sucked when it came to seeing him for who he really was. It was like she had made up her mind about what he was in the first week or two that she met him, and anything about him she observed that wasn't consistent with the profile she'd formed was downplayed or ignored while anything that fit her less than flattering opinion of him was exaggerated or noted for eternity. Fed up with their teasing, he was pretty sure if he did tell them he'd befriended Ernie and was worrying about him, it wouldn't matter. They only wanted to see him as a womanising clown who apart from playing fetch for Gibbs, just fooled around most of the time and got lucky occasionally when investigating cases.

Giving himself a mental shake, he scolded himself for being selfish. Cate and Probie had been looking forward to going home to spend the holiday with their families, so, of course they were angry and needed to lash out at someone. It wasn't as if they could take their frustration out on Gibbs. Tony was just a convenient target and needed to suck it up. After all, as Gibbs SFA, it was part of his job and he was good at it. He'd had a lot of practice!

Later on, watching Gibbs stare at Courtney-Jayne's overturned bike, the training wheels still attached, a doll ensconced in the cane basket looking sad and pathetic, he knew this was going to be a bad one. The Admiral's daughter stood crying as the Boss interviewed her about the man who'd snatched her daughter, Courtney-Jayne, while Cate and Probie processed the scene and Tony interviewed the LEOs and several witnesses. He knew there'd be no rest for the wicked tonight, or any of the rest of them, either. Gibbs was on a tear!

Tony was already feeling the effects of the new orifice that Gibbs had given him from taking Office Lopez's call to let him know that she'd found Ernie, confused and dehydrated on the floor with a broken wrist. The doctor was going to admit him and she brushed aside his thanks, telling him that she'd settle for him buying her dinner. "Sure, Trish, as long as it's not Lobster Thermidor," He joked, turning and finding Gibbs breathing down his neck with a scary expression on his face. "Got to go, Babe."

"You did good, Tony. Mr. Yost could have been there for days before anyone found him. Happy Thanksgiving!"

"Ditto, Trish." He finished his call and slipped his cell phone into his pocket.

The ensuing confrontation with Gibbs wasn't pretty and Tony knew they were all in for a rocky time until they found Courtney-Jayne, one way or another. Seeing Cate and Probie's distress, he figured that they both needed to call their folks and let them know not to expect them, but neither dared to make a personal call with Gibbs so feral. Shrugging since he was in deep shit with Gibbs already, he decided to take another one for the team. Telling the two juniors he'd give them both two minutes each to call their family and break the bad news while he distracted Gibbs, he told them to wait for his signal.

Proceeding to lead Gibbs off a little way and deliver a sitrep, he gave the agreed signal to his juniors and focused on pissing Gibbs off sufficiently so that his situational awareness was impaired. Of course, he got a Gibbs' slap and some cutting comments about his lack of useful Intel and his obsession with calling his girlfriend, and although he did attempt to tell Gibbs that he was talking to a LEO, his boss wasn't in a listening mood. Flicking a sneaky glance at Cate and McGee, he saw the objective had been achieved and he shrugged. Convincing Gibbs when his mind was made up was an exercise in futility, so he desisted. As a former partner of his used to say in Peoria – I'll die one day for want of breath!

Trying not to take his comments to heart, since he knew the Boss hated cases involving kids, his attempts to brush off his hurt were only moderately successful. After all, it was his job to take Gibbs' anger and deflect it before it could do any damage to innocent targets. Well, other than him, of course. He was expendable since he wasn't the forensic extraordinaire, the psychological profiler, the computer guru or the eccentric but brilliant ME, any of which were depended upon to give Gibbs the leads he needed to find one scared little girl.

Maybe one of these days he would snoop around and find out why it was that cases involving kids seemed to really push all of Gibbs' buttons so badly. But then again, maybe not, and it had nothing to do with being scared of pissing off the Boss. Tony had far too many of his own dirty secrets that he never wanted his team mates to learn, mostly about his childhood, so even though he was curiosity personified, it was pretty clear that Gibbs didn't want anyone sticking their noses into his secrets.

00000

Gibbs had completely forgotten that his team had had their four-day holiday cancelled pretty much as soon as they were walking out the door. And if he did remember, then he probably wouldn't have lost that much sleep over it, either, since a young child had been abducted and the only thing that mattered was finding her alive and returning her home to her parents. But he did listen when Ducky argued that the team needed to take a break since they'd already pulled a 48-hour shift without a break before they'd landed the abduction case. Although he was loath to let any of them slack off since time was crucial, Ducky had sensibly suggested that they could be sent home in shifts to get some sleep.

He had to admit that McGee and Todd had come back fresh and focused, but in Tony's case, while he was much more focused when he returned, he looked like crap, and if he found out that DiNozzo had been tomcatting around with his girlfriend instead of sleeping, he would make him sorry he was ever born. Going to the head and sleeping might be necessary functions for his agents to waste time on while they were working a case, but even eating was not something he was convinced that his team was entitled to, not until Courtney-Jayne Stephenson was back home again. So, it went without saying that his SFA letting his little DiNozzo off the leash was definitely not on the list of permissible behaviours. Putting the matter aside for now since DiNozzo was working diligently at the moment, Gibbs added it to his list to be addressed at some later date. His SFA joked that he had a memory like an elephant – he never forgot – and in that regard, DiNozzo was correct.

The Stephenson's were beside themselves with worry for their six-year-old and Gibbs was equally appalled at the thought of such a baby in the hands of hardened criminals. They had thought from the get-go that the motive for the kidnapping was financial. Lieutenant Jonathon Stephenson had enjoyed a somewhat modest inheritance from his grandfather's passing, although by the time he had paid off outstanding creditors – mostly medical bills, then the amount was almost $39,000, but then maybe the kidnappers thought that Admiral Steele had a lot more serious cash than was the case. And it hadn't taken long for the kidnappers to make their ransom demands known – a quarter of a million dollars no less.

Immediate persons of interest, apart from the probate lawyer and extended family who knew about the inheritance that might be disgruntled at Stephenson's inheritance, were the only people that Jonathon had confided in regarding his good fortune. His team mates, Lieutenant Marty Rhone, Ensign James Reyne and Chief Petty Officer Ronnie Burns, were all under the spotlight as possible suspects, based purely upon the fact that hardly anyone else knew about his legacy. So, the trio was dragged into NCIS and questioned. McGee thought it was Ensign Reyne since he was in a serious amount of debt from a gambling problem. Cate thought it was Lieutenant Rhone because he had a high IQ and was capable of planning the crime.

When pushed for a possible motive by Gibbs since her reasons seemed fairly weak, she reluctantly admitted that Rhone had angry eyes. Gibbs snorted, wondering how profilers managed to get out of bed in the mornings without hurting themselves. What the Hell did that even mean, cuz most people reckoned the NCIS agent had angry eyes? Considering that his profiler had gone soft on a terrorist because he had kind eyes, he didn't pay that much heed to Cate's reasoning. Personally, he liked the Chief Petty Officer Ronnie Burns because the guy was acting hinky, as Abby would say. Fornell, a walking cliché for G Men, would probably call it acting real squirrelly, but to Gibbs he was as guilty as Hell. His Gut was telling him that the sailor was hiding something and he intended to find out what it was. Time was running out and he wasn't going to let Kelly Joanne…er Courtney –Jayne down. Not this time!

DiNozzo didn't seem to like any of their suspects, which was surprising considering how quick he usually was to blame it on the most obvious suspect, as per his experience as a cop which taught him that often the simplest solution or the person closest to the crime was the one responsible.

Focusing on CPO Burns, since Gibbs trusted his gut over his profiler's, he prepared to go back into interrogation and get the truth out of him, one way or another. Tom Morrow waylaid him, well aware of Gibbs' Achilles heel when it came to any case that involved children.

Quickly assessing Gibbs' mental state, and deciding that he was likely to beat the truth out of the suspect, very violently, the director ordered that Tony conduct the interview. Gibbs protested vigorously… of course he did, for form's sake. He had a reputation to maintain, but a small part of him was relieved that the Director wouldn't let him interrogate the bastard. He might not be able to stop if he got started, and killing the dirtbag before they found Courtney-Jayne would not be good. It would create too much paperwork.

It didn't take DiNozzo long to buddy up with the dirtbag, Gibbs thought, watching his senior field agent play the friendly, easy-going, not overly bright Navy cop, and soon the pair was joking like a couple of frat brothers. Part of him knew it was all just an act and disguised a very dangerous temper that was seriously scary when his SFA let loose, but Gibbs was still longing to head slap the agent like he'd never head slapped him before. Turns out his gut was right and wrong. Burns in short order spilled his guts to DiNozzo that the reason why he was acting guilty was because although Stephenson had requested that he keep his inheritance quiet, Burns had told his girlfriend. _Idiot!_

So, now they needed to talk to Pattie Amphlett, who was Ensign Burns' girlfriend, although as a EMT, she was probably not a person of interest, but maybe she had told someone without meaning to. As they tossed info around in the bull pen, Gibbs could see that Tony had zoned out, and he hoped that he was about to pull off one of his famous intuitive leaps that closed out so many cases. Realising that he was thinking, he sent the two junior agents to fetch Ms. Amphlett to the office so he could interview her and left Tony to 'meditate'. This position of meditation that he adopted, lying supine in his desk chair, his feet on his desk and his eyes closed or sometimes wearing sunglasses, lead the uninitiated to leap to the erroneous conclusion that he was sleeping on the job.

The first time Gibbs made this mistake and crept up to scare the living daylights out of his agent by waking him forcefully, DiNozzo had turned the tables by asking if he what he wanted without any change in body posture or even respiration. As relaxed as he appeared to be, DiNozzo maintain his situational awareness, but he simply let the rest of the world assume he was slacking off while his brain performed its mental gymnastics. Now, fifteen minutes later he sprung up out of his chair, his eyes sparkling with excitement as he made connections that he'd probably been grappling with from the start when he'd declared that none of Stephenson's buddies were POIs.

"Gibbs, what if Stephenson or his buddies told someone about his inheritance?"

Gibbs felt his stomach drop since he'd been pinning his hopes on Tony coming up with a harebrained idea or a brilliant lead. Disappointment made him more sarcastic than usual when he barked at his SFA, "We already knew that. That's why Amphlett is coming in. That's what you took two hours to figure out?" _Okay slight exaggeration!_ "It took ya that long to come up something a probie could have come up with?" _Okay, maybe a little harsh, but Courtney-Jayne didn't have time for him to play nice when Tony was fooling around._

Seemingly ignoring Gibbs, or possibly not even hearing him, Tony continued to bounce around the bull pen, muttering a mile a minute. "What about if one or all of them let the cat out of the bag, but they didn't realise that they had? I mean, these are guys after all and they don't hang out chatting in the locker room or the car park. Guys hang out over drinks or a game of pool. They go and grab a burger or a pizza together and they have a few beers. They don't necessarily engage their brains when they open their mouths, and even if they do, how many times does anybody stop to think that the bartender or the waitress is bothering to listen to their conversation?"

Stopping in mid rant, Tony pulled out his cell phone. "Is that Ensign Reyne? Special Agent DiNozzo, and I'm wondering if I can ask a couple of questions?" His pacing took him out of Gibbs' earshot, but he could see the excited demeanour of his agent as he strode around the office before making a second call. Finally, hanging up and grinning from ear to ear he raced back to their desks. "Not the brightest bulb in the box, but like I thought, Stephenson told them all over a burger and onion rings at the diner near the Naval base. He couldn't remember who served them since it was a while ago, but Lieutenant Rhone gave me the waitress' name. He's the only one that's single and he and the waitress were flirting," He explained, anticipating Gibbs' inquiry about why he would remember the waitress that served them so long ago.

Gibbs nodded, thinking that made sense. Hoping that this would prove to be a real lead, he instructed Tony to follow it while he questioned Burns' girlfriend. McGee had rung to say they had Amphlett and would be back at the Yard in five. Gibbs was starting to get a faint flutter in his gut that usually heralded a break in a case.

000000

Thanksgiving 0600 hours:

Tony's lead had panned out. Stephenson and his not so bright Three Musketeers had yabbered away, forgetting that the waitress serving them had ears and a brain. She also had a low-paying job and poor job prospect, plus a dirtbag on again off again boyfriend who'd just dumped her again, and she saw a way to get him back. The pair had disappeared, telling friends that they were going on a long trip after coming into a lot of money. Not very smart, but then again there wasn't some test that prospective kidnappers could take to see if they were smart enough to pull it off, either.

Now, they were searching for Tiffany Smith and her partner, Lloyd Henty, and any connections that they had to properties, looking for anywhere they might be hiding Courtney-Jayne. So far, they hadn't managed to find them and they were preparing to make their way to the ransom drop off point, well most of the team. Gibbs was leaving their probationary agent Tim McGee to continue doing his computer thingy searching, and if they found the dirtbags, Gibbs had teed up the on-call team to be ready to storm any properties in DC or surrounding states to search for the six-year-old. Balboa would also supervise his probie until they got back. They were headed to New York for the drop off of the ransom since the kidnappers informed the Stephensons that the exchange of their daughter for the ransom money was going to take place during the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.

When Cate and McGee had wondered aloud why they would pick the parade for the exchange, Tony had pointed out that it was a good place to pick up the money since it would be full of tourists, and that would make it more difficult for any law enforcement to set up surveillance or arrest them. He also explained that if the kidnappers had watched any of the hundreds of kidnapping movies or television shows, they would renege on swapping the money for the little girl. More than likely they would take the money and run, using the crowds to lose any cops. Gibbs was glad that his SFA was educating the juniors about the reality of the situation, since he was wound tighter than a drum and just wanted to kill someone, preferably the dirtbag kidnappers, but in their absence he'd settle for annoying junior agents asking damn fool questions that he could chew up and spit out.

They were waiting for Admiral Steele to arrive, as he'd offered to deliver the ransom for his daughter and son-in-law, which he'd somehow manage to raise (all but fifty thousand dollars anyway). And Gibbs wondered if Cate and Tim realised how close they came to being history, or at the very least, to having VBM - visible bite marks? Since Todd was so concerned about having a VPL, he assumed she at least wouldn't appreciate it overly much.

0000000

Outside Tony's apartment block: 0600 hours Thanksgiving morning

The LOLs, Carla, Rae and Lil were standing around on the sidewalk, along with most of the residents in their apartment block, apart from people who like Tony weren't at home. They were all waiting in the dark November dawn for the Emergency Services to come and deal with the gas leak in one of the apartments on the ground floor. Most people had still been asleep and the ladies, along with the other residents, were mostly dressed in sleepwear, and subsequently many were shivering in what was almost DC winter weather. Some of the neighbouring apartment block residents had rushed to their aid with blankets, hot chocolate, and coffee.

Lil was fretting, knowing that their plans for Thanksgiving dinner were in disarray. Once the gas was cut, it was unlikely that they would be able to get the gas leak repaired on a holiday and even if they did, it likely wouldn't be in time for them to prepare all the food that they had been going to cook later on. Once Tony had told them that he had to work, they'd decided to cook enough food and invite the rest of his team mates, too, since they didn't get to go home. Tony had been sending brief updates and was hopeful that they would find the little girl soon, so the LOLs had decided to proceed on the basis that they could take a couple of hours to eat dinner and shopped accordingly. Now they had a heap of food that needed to be cooked and no way to cook it.

Lil frowned, her furrowed countenance looking decidedly ill at ease as she put her mind to work to find a solution. "Perhaps we could just borrow a kitchen, girls." She asked, not finding it odd to refer to her friends thusly. She still felt quite girlish most of the time. "Anyone have any bright ideas?" She asked hopefully.

Rae nodded, thinking, "Perhaps I could ring Sister Rosita and ask if we could use the convent kitchen?" She smirked, "Maria used to love my Mom's black-eyed peas and pecan pumpkin pie when we were growing up, so she's corruptible." She chuckled at the thought of corrupting a convent full of nuns, crossing herself quickly to be on the safe side.

Lil smiled, too. "Or we could maybe ask Donald if we could borrow his kitchen at Reston House. I'm sure he'd agree."

Rae nodded, "Yes, he would, but do you think that Victoria would be alright with us being in her kitchen? She might find it rather stressful. Perhaps the convent would be better, even if the Mallard kitchen would have better equipment, I'm sure," She finished thoughtfully.

Carla, who had been quiet up until now, smiled triumphantly. "I know a kitchen that's not being used, Chicas." Seeing her friends' curious expressions, she revealed her plan. "Young Leroy has a kitchen that sits unused, has done for years since he lost his family. In fact, apart from his basement, the bathroom and his couch, the rest of the house might as well not exist. Honestly, the place is like a mausoleum, and I'm sure his daughter and wife would approve of it being put to good use," She finished determinedly.

She'd been working on Tony's boss to try to convince him to deal with his grief, but the former Marine was incredibly stubborn. In fact, Lil had expressed the opinion that perhaps Gibbs, without realising it, actually enjoyed the pain that came with unresolved grief since it was one way to avoid letting go. Alternatively, the retired social worker explained, it might an attempt at self-punishment if he felt that he was to blame for their death. Letting go would mean forgiving himself, and maybe that was why he couldn't let go of his grief.

Rae looked dubious at the thought of Thanksgiving Dinner at Gibbs' house. "Do ya think he'd let us, Carla. Got me the impression that he's not the most sociable of folks."

Carla nodded determinedly. "You leave that young whipper snapper to me. Do you think that Sister Rosita could help transport us and all the food to Alexandria, Rae?"

"I think so… especially if we invite her, too. She's a sucker for my Mom's pie." Rae said nostalgically.

Carla, in her Sergeant Major mode, nodded approvingly. "Plenty of food, Rae. So, as far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier. Hells bells, chica, tell her to bring a nun friend if she wants. And Lillian, you call Mr. Yost and tell him we'll swing by and pick him up, too. That'll save Tony having to drive out to collect him, and that way he's not alone all day," She thought out loud, marshalling her troops for the coming battle… ah, dinner.

So far, Gibbs was proving to be a recalcitrant foe, but you didn't make it to your ninth decade without learning to be ornery, too. Carla might not be able to force the damned fool to start active grieving, since that would mean he would have to let them go, but she could force him to be sociable for a few hours and actually force him to take part in a simple Thanksgiving Dinner where he could maybe see that he still had plenty to be thankful for.

_Persuade,_ she chided herself sternly. _Force had such negative connotations, especially since her intentions were nothing but honourable. _Carla fancied if the first Mrs. Gibbs and her daughter could speak, that they would be cheering her on in her tough love approach to…persuade, cajole, entice that stubborn goat into living life in celebration of the time they'd been given together, even if it had been tragically short. It was, after all, better than many people ever got.

End notes

1. Climbed out of the cupboard was an intentional error in case you were in any doubt. Of course what Lil was referring to was coming out of the closet LOL.

2. VPL for anyone not in the know refers to visible pantie line under clothes.


	2. Chapter 2

Rating: T mainly for the odd bit of bad language.

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own NCIS or any of its characters but the LOLs are all mine.

Beta: Kudos to Arress who came up with the Thanksgiving idea to bring Carla, Lil and Rae back again and she Beta'ed the story, providing her usual support. Any boo boos are definitely my bad. Look forward to your feedback.

Who's Been Cooking in my Kitchen?

A/N Well I guess it's time to fess up :) There will be a part 3 to this story since the wordage got away from me again but next chapter will see the team getting down to dinner. Still waiting on fellow Aussies answering the challenge lol. Thanks to everyone for warmly welcoming the LOLs back for a second outing. I really appreciate all the reviews, alerts and favs.

This story is AU as I needed to alter the timeline in order to include a favourite character. So this takes place early in season three and Cate is still with the team as Twilight hasn't happened yet and therefore there is no Ziva. To the guest that wanted to know if this takes place after Left for Dead (the episode and my story) the answer is yes since Left for Dead took place in season one.

Part 2

Tony was seated in the back of the agency sedan with Cate, since the Admiral was riding shotgun beside Gibbs in the front. He deliberately chose to sit behind Gibbs on the back seat so he could send off surreptitious texts since Gibbs was on a knife's edge with his temper at the moment and the last thing he wanted was to set the man off. Still, he had to check up on Ernie since they were going to discharge him today and he needed to organise with one of the old Marine's neighbours to pick him up from the hospital. Luckily, the first night of the Courtney-Jayne kidnapping when Ducky had bullied… um, convinced Gibbs into letting them go home and get some sleep he'd gone to the hospital instead and bullied… um, convince the staff to let him stay with Ernie who was still pretty mixed up. Aw, heck, Anthony, be honest, you bullied your way in by using your position as a federal agent, but even if you misused your badge, Ernie's an old guy who's scare and alone, so it was all for a good cause.

The fact that the old Marine recognise him despite his confusion and seemed less restless just deepened his resolve to stay with him. So, he tried to sleep in the visitor's chair, channelling Gibbs' personality traits when any of the staff tried to chuck him out. The on-duty doctor gave him a run-down on how the Veteran was responding to treatment and what his prognosis was. He explained that the fall and mental confusion was due to dehydration and would resolve with the IV fluids they were treating him with and that antibiotics would take care of the urinary tract infection. Due to the particular strain of antibiotic resistant bacteria, they needed to administer IV antibiotics, and his dehydration was significant enough that he would need several days in the hospital.

The doctor had even explained when Tony asked why Ernie hadn't let someone know he was sick, that the symptoms of a UTI in elderly people often didn't cause any pain or even discomfort during urination, so it was pretty easy to miss the fact that anything was amiss. And so he sat with Ernie, grateful that his presence seemed to calm him, and even though Tony was dropping with exhaustion, he didn't have the heart to leave him, so he stayed and slept in the chair. In some ways when Tony looked at Ernie, old, sick and alone, he couldn't help but see himself in another 40 plus years, but thinking about it less emotionally, the NCIS agent realised the chances of him making it to that age were mostly non-existent.

Gibbs and Ducky sometimes accused him of having a death wish, but that wasn't true. The truth was much, much simpler than that. People died in law enforcement – it was an inexorable fact, as Chris Pacci's death proved. Tony shut out the anger that he felt about Cate's constant homophobic teasing about him unknowingly kissing the guy that he'd found out later had killed his friend. But at least like Tony, Chris didn't have family to mourn his passing. If it was a choice between him taking a bullet or one of his team mates, he would willingly step in front of the bullet every time.

Knowing how much Gibbs hated having to break the news of someone's death to their loved ones, he knew how much worse it would be if it was a colleague. Cate and Probie had loving families, and although Gibbs didn't seem to have family, he was so secretive that it was possible that he had family that would miss him. Certainly Ducky and Abby were close enough to qualify as the Boss' family even if Gibbs had no one else. Therefore, it was logical that if anyone should have to die that it should be him since he wouldn't be missed, and after all it was his job as SFA to watch Gibbs' six and protect the junior agents.

So, he sat in the uncomfortable visitor's chair dozing, dreaming of Ernie's beautiful wife, Dorothy, and a young strapping Ernie. Of course, when he snuck back into work and grabbed a shower and changed into clothes he had in his car, he knew he probably looked like something that the cat dragged in, and he got a scowl from Gibbs. He thought about coming clean and telling him where he'd been, really he did. Gibbs was a Marine and he admired Ernie enough to bend the rules until they were almost breaking. He'd saved the old guy from himself when he thought he'd murdered his best friend, but rule ten held Tony back.

Rule ten stated when the job was done, walk away. Getting involved in a case was one of Gibbs' no-nos, although there were times when he broke that rule, it wasn't smart to point that out to the Boss, especially not today. With an active case that involved a child, Tony figured that admitting he hadn't followed rule ten would probably earn him the mother of all head slaps as a pressure release for Gibbs. He decided to forgo that treatment since his head was already pounding with a headache as it was.

So, sitting behind Gibbs in the agency vehicle, he sent a series of texts using the sneaky skills he'd developed and utilised undercover. He organised for Mr. and Mrs. Samuels, who were neighbours of Ernie's, to go and pick him up from the hospital and tell him that Tony would call him later on. He texted the LOLs to explain about Ernie and promised to try to make dinner tonight even if it was a lightening visit to drop off his favourite Medal of Honour recipient. He was sure Lil, Rae and Carla would love spoiling Ernie, and it would make up for him not being there if they hadn't found Courntey-Jayne by then. Although a part of his brain, the pragmatic cop part, whispered that if they hadn't found her by tonight, then they probably never would. Not in time anyway.

Ignoring Cate's dirty looks as he finished his texting, he slipped his phone into his pocket and leaned his head back and closed his eyes to think about Lloyd Henty and what he might do next. Henty wasn't completely stupid, but on the other hand, he wasn't a career criminal either, and he probably had no idea that NCIS had identified him, so they had a distinct advantage. So, Tony asked himself what he would do if he was Lloyd.

Sitting up and opening his eyes, he looked at his colleagues eagerly. "Why would Henty pick New York as the drop off point?" He asked rhetorically, although Cate didn't get it.

Rolling her eyes she said, "Well, according to you, to use the crowds from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to make surveillance problematic and to make it easier to make a quick get away."

Gibbs had remained silent, knowing that Tony was onto something…again, so he'd learnt when it happened to give him rope and let him run.

Tony nodded impatiently," Well, yeah, Cate, but people can have multiple reasons for deciding to act a certain way." He thought about how when the profiler started getting too personal with him, he turned up the chauvinist or the sleaze or the frat boy or the dumbass persona to derail her interest. But by being obnoxious, it had the added bonus of making her despise him and she was less likely to bother profiling him later on when he wasn't around to distract her. And he had to admit, somewhat conflicted, it had work pretty damned well.

"What if he wanted to use the parade to make a get away." He waved away Cate's objection that they'd already figured this out. "New York has three extremely busy airports and lots of tourists over Thanksgiving, plus all the people returning home to visit family. Easy enough to fly under the radar."

"You thinking that they might try to fly out of the country, then?" Gibbs mused hopefully.

"Yeah, Henty is not the brightest crayon in the box, Boss, and a quarter of a million wouldn't go all that far, but to someone like him it probably seems like a fortune. So, yeah, I do think they might try and leave the country, especially since they won't think we're onto them yet." He was already pulling out his phone in anticipation of Gibbs' order.

"Call McGee and get him to check JFK, Newark and LaGuardia to see if they have tickets booked and tell him to check the trains, too."

Fifteen minutes later, McGee had called them back to confirm that Tiffany Smith had booked two seats on JetBlue to the Caribbean and was due to pick them up from the counter in the next hour. Gibbs ordered Tony to call airport security to see if they could determine if she was already at JFK and to call and request the LEOs to stakeout the airport and arrest her. Tony was busy coordinating the former waitress's takedown, speaking to someone he called Chief and seemed to be well acquainted with to organise Smith's arrest.

Cate frowned, "Since when do you know Police Chiefs, Tony. You didn't work for the NYPD, did you?"

Tony looked at her briefly before replying monosyllabically with a, " No," that probably made Gibbs proud, or frustrated depending upon if he knew the answer or not. Then Tony was back on the phone to McGee updating him on what they were doing and telling him to contact airport security and Lieutenant O'Halloran who was co-ordinating the search for Tiffany Smith. It was just a question of waiting now and Tony felt anxious and stressed coming back to what had been home until he was twelve. He decided to play possum so he didn't have to deal with Cate's curiosity about how he knew the chief of police. Not that he would sleep, of course, but she didn't know that.

Three quarters of an hour from the city they received confirmation from O'Halloran that they'd arrested Ms. Smith without fanfare as she tried to collect their tickets from the JetBlue counter and check in their luggage. He'd personally interrogated her and she'd cracked inside of ten minutes, telling them that the little girl had been left tied up but unharmed in a barn in Virginia. Thanking the Lieutenant, he sent McGee a text message with the info and telling him to get Balboa to check it out and get back to them ASAP.

Looking into Gibbs impatient gaze he reported, "O'Halloran's men got her boss, at JFK and she's being questioned now." He nodded towards the Admiral knowing Gibbs would get the message.

Giving him a slight nod he ordered. "Keep me updated, DiNozzo."

"Sure, Boss. Ya know, when we have Courtney-Jayne safely back home with her folks, I'm gonna sleep for a week, maybe two. I'm so exhausted that I could sleep in a barn in Virginia along with the cows and horses I think," he shared with them, his eyes boring into Gibbs' in the rear-view mirror.

Cate snorted, "Well, since you're such a pig, DiNozzo, you should fit right in."

The slight nod that Gibbs gave him confirmed that the boss had gotten his message that the target was a barn in rural Virginia between one and two hours from DC. He closed his eyes to think as Gibbs drove in his usual manic fashion, his own expression intense, but also knowing that the momentum had started to swing back their direction. By the time they arrived at the drop off, hopefully they would have Courtney-Jayne safe and in their custody.

00000

Flashback 0750:

Gibbs phone was ringing and he stared at the number, not recognising the caller. Answering with his usually grunt in place of a greeting, there was silence for a moment.

"Is that Gibbs?" A familiar voiced inquired, although Jethro couldn't place who it was that was calling him.

Sighing, he replied, "Yep, who wants to know?"

"It's Carla Santiago, Leroy. Antonio's grandma.

Gibbs scowled. That woman was a menace and to add insult to injury, she insisted on calling him Leroy, chiefly cuz it pissed him off. "On a case. What do ya want, Mrs. Santiago?"

"I won't keep you, Leroy. I was wondering if you'd do me a favour. Lil, Rae and I are planning on cooking Thanksgiving Dinner for Tony, but the gas has been cut in our building and I was hoping that we could use your kitchen to cook? Of course, you're invited to dinner, too, and the rest of the team as there's plenty enough to go round."

Gibbs couldn't believe the hide of the woman. Since when did she think they were friends, or even on good enough terms that she could call him up and ask a favour? She delighted in pissing him off about his drinking and his attitude, and now she expected that he wanted to spend Thanksgiving with her and her coven of crones. He started to tell her where to get off, but like so many other times before he found himself agreeing to her making herself at home in his kitchen. Somehow she managed to bewitch him, a big tough as boots Marine turned into an obsequious little toad around her, and it made him furious. He consoled himself with the thought that he would be working on the case, so in reality he wouldn't have to see her or her interfering cronies.

Cheering up he ended the call, "Have at it. Gotta go, Mrs. Santiago. Enjoy your lunch!"

Glaring at his SFA, he wondered if Tony had set him up with his Granny. If he wasn't so focused on looking for Courtney-Jayne, he'd call him on his suspicions but the case was more important right now. He just hoped that to make up for the aggravation, the damned LOLs left him some leftovers from lunch.

End of flashback

00000

Ernie Yost watched astonished at the trio of elderly ladies made themselves at home in the gunny's kitchen. Looking around the house he could see that it was like the gunny, no nonsense and without fripperies, but solid. It was just over a year since he had seen Gibbs, but the man was pretty memorable, typical Marine, of course. Feeling useless, he enquired if there was anything he could help with.

Carla thought for a moment and smiled . "Actually, Mr. Yost, I could do with the assistance of a strong Marine," She flattered him knowing that he was feeling fairly foolish and weak after falling and breaking his wrist. Experience had taught her that men need their sometime fragile egos boosted rather frequently. "We need more table space since we won't all fit around this table. I was thinking that we could take the hinges off the door over there and use it along with a couple of saw horses as an extra table. We'll just throw a tablecloth over it and Roberto's your Uncle."

She figured that Gibbs was bound to have a screwdriver down in the basement and she descended with Ernie close behind her, making admiring noises about Gibbs' man-cave, not to mention his boat. Seeing the correct tool for the job he stowed it into his pocket and grabbed one of the wooden saw horses while the feisty Latino LOL took the other to use for their makeshift table. Carefully negotiating the stairs and depositing them back near the dining room, they returned to the basement door. Ernie, although a little slow because of the cast on his left arm, soon enough had the hinges unscrewed from the door. Sister Rosita, who was hanging out for some of Rae's mother's pie, had been waiting for the opportunity to help, noting that all the doors in Gibbs' house were of solid construction, none of those hollow core jobs. She had wanted to assist without offending either of the octogenarians as they carried the door over and set up a makeshift table.

Ernie watched as the firebrand Carla followed him back down to the basement when he returned the screwdriver to its place. He could tell by the way that the gunny had his hand tools organised that Gibbs was beyond fastidious about them. Each tool had it its place and everything in its place, so he wanted to maintain order.

He watched bemused as his companion went around the room, collecting no less than five bottles of bourbon ranging from unopened to partially full and carried them upstairs. Seeing his confusion, Carla explained.

"Gibbs has been known to become maudlin and morose, not to mention rather amorous with a bottle, so I thought I would remove the temptation," she told him, determined to make it as difficult as possible for Gibbs to use the turtle defence.

00000

Once they'd reached New York, they had driven straight to the NYPD precinct where Tiffany Smith was being held. Gibbs was impatient to question her to find out what their plans were regarding the collection of the ransom money. He was determined take Henty down, and it would help if they knew in advance where to focus their manpower. In addition to the eight agents from the NCIS field office, DiNozzo's LEO connections had also managed to collect an extra six NYPD detectives, plus all of the cops that were assigned as security for the parade would be instructed to keep their eyes open during the ransom exchange.

Lieutenant O'Halloran had already distributed photos of the dirtbag and Courtney-Jayne to patrols at morning roll calls, and many of the cops, mostly Unies, were already out on the frontline and would be keeping their eyes open for any suspicious activities. At the moment, pending the results of the search of the Virginia property by Balboa's team, their instructions were to observe but not approach. Of course, should they find the little girl, then all bets were off and the order to detain him would be issued. Although with so many families, children and tourists, the Powers That Be had cautioned that discretion was the watchword. Tony snorted –_obviously, the Mayor of New York City had never met Gibbs since the SAF didn't think that he even knew what that word meant._

Right now, the NCIS agents from NY and the Dees were waiting on Gibbs so that they could strategize on how to cover the ransom drop. Abby had already set the Admiral up with a super small wire before they'd left headquarters and was standing by ready to monitor it so that they had remote eyes on him when he was dropping off the money. Now they were waiting on Gibbs, who was trying to find out where Henty was planning on collecting the money, so they were standing around drinking coffee and waiting to hear from Balboa.

Gibbs stormed in, supersized cup of coffee in hand, eyes stormy and lips thinned into a slash, and Tony and Cate exchanged a knowing look. Admiral Steele took one look at Gibbs and made the correct assumption that he'd gotten nothing.

Trying not to sound like he was blaming the lead agent he confirmed, "She wouldn't talk, I take it?"

Gibbs snarled, "Oh yeah, she talked. The dumbass wouldn't stop talking and crying and begging. It's just that she didn't know anything about the ransom drop off apart from the fact that it's taking place during the parade. Henty might not be a criminal genius, but Smith's as dumb as a post and her boyfriend probably figured that the less she knew the better." He explained.

Tony exchanged another amused glance at his team mate. If Gibbs had been giving them a SitRep it would have probably been the death-ray glare, but the Admiral had brought out the chatty in their boss. Now that he was here, they could get the briefing underway. Gathering around a map of the city, Tony proceeded to brief the agents and the Admiral on the parade route.

Tracing the route with his finger, he reported, "Okay, the balloons are inflated in the cordoned off area of Amsterdam Avenue and 110 Street. St. John the Devine Cathedral is one place he might use as a drop off for the money," he suggested as the cops and agents from NY nodded, agreeing with his assessment.

Continuing on, he began to outline the route. "So anyway, the parade heads south on Amsterdam until106 Street where it turns east. Once they reach Columbus, the balloons need to be lowered to pass under the Elevated Subway tracks at 9th Avenue since they won't fit otherwise. Again, this may be a place where Henty might have the Admiral leave the ransom since there will be a lot of activity. Then the parade continues down 106 Street until it reaches Central Park West where it turns south and carries on until it arrives at Macy's Department store where it terminates. Again, with all the people and performers milling around, it's another place that our dirtbag might pick to stage the drop off. Of course…" Tony stopped as his cell phone indicated that a text had arrived.

He pulled it out hoping that it was the news they were waiting on. He schooled his face so as not to reveal the potential import of this call since the Admiral hadn't been informed that they were searching for his granddaughter. Until they knew whether she was there or not and if she was alive, they had kept him out of the loop. Staring at the screen, he saw that it wasn't from McGee or Balboa but Sharni Wade, Balboa's SFA, who knew that Gibbs didn't text. She'd kept it brief:

Hey ad cj safe : )) my boss 2 call yr boss ttyl

Looking up and seeing Gibbs giving him the gimlet eye, he gave his boss a miniscule nod and a small smile. Watching Gibbs intently, he saw his whole demeanour including his body language shift from frustration personified to implacable predator as the last impediment had been removed to him taking down the animal that had dared to kidnap an innocent little girl. Henty really better hope that it wasn't Gibbs that took him down because Gibbs would make him suffer.

Knowing that the Dees and agents were all waiting for news and that it was Gibbs' place to make the announcement, Tony stayed silent, his expression masked. The first one he admitted was extremely difficult for him while the second was simply second nature after a lifetime of practice, but the tension in the room was unbearable.

Gibbs approached the Admiral, placing his hand on the man's shoulder. "Just got word that we found Courtney-Jayne in Virginia and she's alive. I'm expecting to hear more details from the agents in the next coupla minutes, Admiral. So, ya still willing to help us get that asshole kidnapper?"

The Admiral's body language relaxed appreciably when he realised that his granddaughter was safe, but his training kicked in at the thought of making her kidnapper pay for what he had put his family through. Nodding emphatically he declared, "Absolutely. Just tell me what to do." He smiled grimly before asking, "Do my daughter and son-in-law know about Courtney-Jayne yet, Gibbs?"

"Not sure, Admiral," he cocked an eyebrow at his Tony who shrugged. "Still waiting for a proper SitRep. We just got a text message from McGee?" He asked looking at his SFA questioningly.

"Wade," he said briefly. "Said Balboa is going to ring you ASAP."

Nodding he refocused on the hunt for their dirtbag. Tony turned to one of the Dees. "I'll leave the update about this year's parade to Sergeant Thoms," He smiled at the short, slightly dour detective as she took over the briefing.

She smiled at him. Agent DiNozzo was not your average fed. He was one of them at the core and had listened to her recommendations as together they came up with the game plan that she was going to present to the NCIS agents. Obviously, when they had worked it out, it was on the assumption that they still had a hostage whose welfare was paramount so they couldn't afford to spook the perp. Plus, they had to protect Admiral Steele. The Mayor and the Secretary of the Navy would have their guts for garters if any harm should come to him, or any bystander for that matter – well, she doubted the SecNav would give a damn about bystanders, but their esteemed Mayor sure would.

"Yes, thanks, Tony. What I propose that we do is utilize the Dees and the New York NCIS agents by spreading out along the parade route. Since we're obviously more familiar with the city, I think we'll be the most likely to spot anything unusual. I also recommend, Gibbs, that your agents focus on watching the Admiral's back and the easiest way to do so would be if you are undercover on the floats." She looked at the lead agent with his lethal predatory air that reminded her of a wolf, a very dangerous unpredictable wolf, although his demeanour seemed to have settled since the hostage had been secured.

Tony stepped in. "Sergeant Thoms was telling me that since 9/11, it's been common practice to have undercover cops in the parade."

Thoms nodded, as that much was true, but Tony had already known about it when she mentioned the idea. Why was he playing dumb? Oh, well… hers was not to reason why, etc. "So, Gibbs, one of our officers has a costume that will fit you I think. It also has a specially concealed holster for your sidearm and, Agent Todd, I think we can find something for you to wear. Tony's going to be at the back of the procession in the Broadway contingent."

Thoms was surprised at the snarky rejoinder from Agent Todd. "Didn't know there was a Broadway show that had a pig in it, Tony."

The cop looked at Gibbs and DiNozzo to see their response and she saw a brief flash of hurt flicker across Tony's face before his face became blank, while Gibbs seemed impervious to the remark or its impact.

Instead the team lead nodded, "Okay, better brief us about other undercover cops so we don't shoot each other."

Caroline Thoms grinned at the thought. "I'll get you a list. Detective Chan, can you organise that?" She directed one of the other detectives to handle it. "I'll just organise your costumes." She left the conference room, which was really the precinct's lunch room.

Caroline had agreed with Tony that Cate could be on the Polar Express Float, one of the designated floats that had undercover cops on them to be able to keep an eye on the spectators, but as she grabbed the Feds' outfits she changed her mind. Agent Todd had been getting on her wick since she arrived. Snarky and judgemental didn't sit well with the sergeant – she'd heard the sotto voce comment about Tony being born with a silver spoon in his mouth when he'd briefly explained at the briefing that he was familiar with the parade route, and the pig insult infuriated her.

Thoms knew who Tony was, as did many New Yorkers, who also knew that he'd been disowned by Anthony DiNozzo, Senior, at the tender age of 12. They also were aware his asshole of a father was doing his level best to run the company that his own father had created into the ground, as he relied on naïve heiresses instead of hard work or talent to keep the company afloat. But she and every other cop also knew that Tony was the cop that had practically single-handedly brought down the head of the Maculuso family in Baltimore, where even the FBI had failed in the past. To say he was a legend amongst his cop brethren was not an exaggeration, and the fact he hadn't lost his cop instincts or heart made him instantly revered by other cops.

Reaching for the outfits for the three agents, impulsively Sergeant Thoms decided to change Todd's float assignation. Her superior and judgemental attitude didn't sit well with the down-to-earth sergeant; she'd met her type before when dealing with the Secret Service. They definitely viewed themselves as a cut above other agencies and LEOs, so Thoms had to wonder why Todd had resigned and ended up as a what she must see as a step down as a Navy cop. She'd made no attempt to hide her conviction she was better than the lowly NYPD, she seemed especially condescending towards the male cops, and surprisingly her senior field agent, too.

Thoms speculated on why the Team Leader, who was a former Marine well versed in COC principles seemed so tolerant of her attitude and insubordination, as ultimately it was disrespectful of him for his choice of Tony as his 2IC. Did he have a thing with her, she mused? Not to mention her appalling habit of jabbing her colleagues in the gut with her elbow, Caroline was praying that she try it on her, too, since she would take great pleasure in arresting her for assault. Unfortunately, it seemed to be reserved for male colleagues, especially Tony, and along with her snarky barbs, she felt ashamed to be a fellow female law enforcement professional. She understood the importance of banter in keeping stress to a minimum and maintaining motivation, but there was a line you didn't cross.

So, while it might be a mite childish to haze the Fed, she decided that someone should take Agent Todd down a peg or two, and Thoms grabbed one of the skimpy little outfits from the Barbie float. Caroline was pretty good at reading people and she figured that the former Secret Service agent was also an ardent feminist who would be furious about being on the Barbie float. Not that the Sergeant was unsympathetic to the principles of feminism; since as a single working mother and a cop, especially one who wasn't genetically blessed, unlike Todd, she had experienced more than her fair share of discrimination, too. Probably more so, but that didn't mean it was okay to treat everyone with a dick like crap on the assumption they weren't as good as a woman or were out to subjugate you. True feminism, in Caroline's opinion, meant respecting your colleagues equally regardless of their reproductive organs.

Shrugging, Thoms grabbed the gear Tony would need to blend in with the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang group at the back of the parade. She knew that he was a specialist in undercover gigs, but it was sure handy that he knew how to clog since he'd be able to pick up the tap steps without too much difficulty. She had a DVD of the performers' parade practises for him to study before they left.

00000000000

Donald 'Ducky' Mallard was hovering around Abby's lab waiting with the Goth for the young Stephenson child to be brought back to NCIS so he could check her over and they could take statements and collect evidence from her person and clothes. Special Agent Balboa assured him that the little one didn't need to go to the hospital, but of course while an experienced field agent, the director insisted that Ducky check her out properly. They were expecting her distraught but equally relieved parents momentarily. It was pleasing to have a happy resolution for once, although they still had to capture Lloyd Henty and bring Admiral Steele home safely, but the worst was definitely over. Now, it down to waiting.

Ducky knew that Abigail was still waiting to monitor the wire that the admiral was wearing and that she was feeling blue about missing out on spending Thanksgiving with her family, so he'd dropped off the obligatory caffeine beverage, against his better judgement. Too much caffeine, as he had tried to explain to Gibbs more than once, was injurious to one's health, but under the circumstances he swallowed his objection about the appalling concoction and was rewarded by a squeal of pleasure from the forensic scientist. Watching her slurping up the brew with undisguised enthusiasm, he grimaced just as his cell phone rang.

"Hello, Dr. Mallard speaking. How may I help you?" he inquired politely.

"Hello, Donald, it's Lil."

"My dear, Lillian, it's lovely to hear from you." Hearing raised voices in the background, he frowned. "Oh my goodness! Is everything alright?"

He heard her laugh. "Yes, Donald, pay them no mind. It's just Rae and Carla having a slight disagreement over cornbread. In fact, I think that they've agreed to each cook their own version because apparently cornbread from the deep south and cornbread Mexican style are not the same. I'm afraid I needed a break from the kitchen."

"Ah, I see. It sounds fraught, but I'm sure with your tact you'll deal with it." Ducky chuckled, knowing that his mother could be difficult when it came to her cooking. "I wouldn't have thought that there was much difference between corn breads, but then perhaps it's like Irish and Scotch whiskey."

"Donald, I just spoke to Victoria's care giver and she said you were called into work. So, I'm assuming that your Thanksgiving plans are in disarray?" Lil asked.

Ducky smiled wryly, even though his listener would be unable to see it. "Ah, yes, well… comes with the job, dear lady. We'll have to postpone I'm afraid, but this case has a happy ending so it's hardly the end of the world."

"Well, actually, that was why I was calling, to invite you and the team to have Thanksgiving Dinner with us. We have a heap of food so you and your mother are more than welcome, and you can bring the rest of the team. Tony was already invited, but he told us that they got called out on a case and then the gas got cut off in our building, so you could say it is a minor miracle that dinner is happening at all."

"My goodness, Lillian, I take it the gas has been re-established? Of course it has or you wouldn't be inviting me to dinner." The ME exclaimed.

"Actually, Donald, we are holding Thanksgiving at Gibbs' home." Lillian explained.

"Gracious, my dear, however did you manage that? I'm been inviting Jethro to Thanksgiving Dinner ever since I began working here, and he's always given me the brush off. I get the feeling he doesn't celebrate holidays."

Lillian adroitly changed the subject. "I'm afraid I can't take any credit, Donald. Carla told us she would handle Gibbs and she gained his blessing, so I hope you will come. Perhaps you would extend an invitation to your young assistant to join us, too. I would enjoy meeting him."

"I'll pass on the invitation, Lillian, but he will probably be spending it with his family as he hails from DC, but I will gladly accept the invitation on behalf of Mother and myself." Ducky smiled, looking forward to seeing Tony's grannies again.

"Wonderful, young man. We'll look forward to seeing you later then. Bye for now."

As she hung up, Ducky laughed delightedly. It wasn't every day he was referred to as young man.

Abby looked at him curiously. "You okay there, Duckman?"

"Quite okay, Abigail. Anthony's grannies have extended an invitation for Thanksgiving Dinner since ours has been disrupted."

His phone beeped and he pulled it out and read the text message from security to inform him that Balboa's team was back with Courtney-Jayne Stephenson. "Excuse me, my dear. I must head back to my office as the child has arrived. I'll speak to you later." He promised as he departed for the lab.

00000

"I'm not wearing that! I absolutely refuse to buy into the patriarchal objectification of women for some misogynistic motive driven by corporate greed," Cate evangelised, her brown eyes spiting fire and her lips thinned with fury as she held up a Barbie doll outfit and blonde wig. "You cannot expect me to wear this crap, Gibbs. I'm a college graduate and I protected the President of the United States. I DO NOT DRESS UP LIKE BARBIE!"

Gibbs looked at her, bemused. "Get a grip Cate. Ya think I like my outfit?" He indicated his Goofy costume that he was in the process of climbing into. Even though he'd initially refused to wear it, assuming the LEOs where yanking his chain with a little interagency one-upmanship. Then one of the cops had shown him the inbuilt sophisticated digital coms and the specially designed holster that would allow Goofy to be armed and dangerous, he'd shrugged and got with the program. That said, Cate wasn't going to be so easily mollified.

Looking at the skimpy outfit, she scowled. "Why does DiNozzo get to wear normal clothes and I look like tart, Gibbs? I'll bet he arranged it so he could get a cheap thrill seeing me rigged up in this degrading costume. Where is he anyway?"

Sergeant Thoms who had been watching the snarky agent throw a huge tantrum strolled up and entered the argument. "Tony's getting ready, but if you can tap dance maybe he'll swap with you."

"DiNozzo can't dance, either." Cate shot back.

"Apparently, he can…well, he can clog at least, so he said he'd manage. He's learning the routine now. And you better get dressed, Agent Todd, we don't have much time."

"I can't believe a female officer would assign me to the Barbie float. What did DiNozzo threaten you with?"

Thoms scowled. "That's Detective, and everything isn't about your gender, Agent Todd. You might want to think about checking your superiority at the door next time you enter a precinct. We humble dumbass cops don't take kindly to Feds' disrespect and arrogance, regardless of what happens, and it has nothing to do with what's situated between their legs. It's all about mutual respect, and for your information even a bumbling cop responds well to being treated with respect. Try it and see. I'm sure your male colleagues will appreciate it.

The cop regarded Gibbs critically. "Good fit. You carry off Goofy damned well, Special Agent Gibbs…briefing for all undercover cops in the parade in five."

00000

Tony leaned back in the leather seat as he kept his eyes on Lloyd Henty, who he'd handcuffed to the seat opposite him. Personally, it seemed a bit over the top for SecNav to send out his private jet to fly them all back to DC since it was only a few hour's drive back to the office. Still, the Admiral was a personal friend of SecNav, who had stated that he wanted his friend back home with his family ASAP for what was left of the holiday. Tony figured that Admiral Steele was probably desperate to see his granddaughter, but even so he reckoned that his personal connection to the family wasn't the sole reason for SecNav sending his jet to New York to collect them all.

The truth was that Gibbs had somehow managed to get himself declared persona non grata with the Mayor, who was incensed when the Boss managed to 'accidentally' damage a balloon during the parade when they were arresting Henty. It seemed that having crimes committed against innocent balloons during the biggest Thanksgiving Day Parade was a worse crime than homicide, or in this case kidnapping, and they had been quick to cover up what really happened. Well, tried to cover it up, but they hadn't been terribly successful.

Flashback:

By the time he'd joined Cate and Gibbs for the briefing of the NYPD cops who were undercover as part of the parade, they'd changed into their respective undercover outfits. Tony had to steel himself not to giggle at the sight of his boss decked out as Walt Disney's Goofy. It was just such a ludicrous disguise for the former Marine and Tony was going to make it his business to see that he took some photos of Special Agent Goofy to share with Ducky and Abby. Yeah, okay, he probably had a death wish.

Thinking about Cate, he decided he definitely had a death wish. Expecting her to be on the Polar Express float, he'd stared bugged eyed when she was instead dressed up like a damned Barbie doll, which would have to be her beta noire as much as vampires were his, if for very different reasons. To say he was gobsmacked to see her undercover costume was an understatement. He knew he was staring, but he couldn't help it. When he figured that Sergeant Thoms had decided to haze his partner, he couldn't help grinning since he had suffered more than his own share of hazing along the way.

Knowing that Cate could easily rub people up the wrong way, just like he could, too, he was curious. Although to be fair he was usually trying to be obnoxious to piss people off and Cate seemed oblivious to any ruffled feathers she caused, he wondered what she'd done. Surely, she didn't unleash the pointy elbow on Caroline? Regardless, Cate saw his astonished expression and then his grinning and typically judged his reaction based upon her opinion of him, which was admittedly less than flattering.

"You're a chauvinist pig, DiNozzo." She spat at him.

Realising that she wouldn't believe him no matter what, he slipped on his blankest mask and gave his team mates the list of floats that had undercover cops on them and what characters they were playing. He knew that Gibbs would memorise them, but to be on the safe side since Cate didn't have a lot of experience working undercover, he advised her to study and memorise as many as she could, deliberately turning away so he wouldn't observe any of her usual forms of disrespect.

A bit later as he joined the ensemble cast at the parade, he remembered watching the movie as a kid and the memories of watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang inevitably lead to memories of watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Once his mother was 'well enough' to take him to see the parade, and that had been a truly red letter day, but up until he was disowned at 12 years old, their housekeeper or the cook would often take him with them if they went into Manhattan to watch the parade. Once his mother had died, his father stopped celebrating holidays, unless he had a new wife to impress. Coming home to New York always made him feel sad, and he had to give himself a mental shake. Instead he focused on Cate's obvious curiosity that had been stirred by this little trip back home.

The jokes had reached a new level of sarcasm and a part of him was used to all the jokes and jealousy that seemed to follow him around, but he wondered just how envious everyone would be if they'd had to walk in his shoes growing up. Still, Cate had been his partner for more than years now, and he thought as a profiler she would have realised that his refusal to discuss his family meant that it hadn't been filled with caviar and pate foie gras.

In fact, Tony really had to wonder if people knew how the duck liver was produced, would they still think it tasted so wonderful. Did they realise that the poor unfortunates were force fed massive amounts of food daily by tube down their throats until their livers literally swelled six to ten times what was normal in protest, that it was so full of fat that if they lived long enough it would result in death by liver failure? That they were eating diseased livers? As far as Tony was concerned, it was a metaphor for everything that was wrong with the lifestyle of conspicuous wealth and consumption that so many people aspired to. Kind of made consuming embryonic fish seem quite civilised really.

As he fought off those dark musings, he questioned if she could ever understand how lucky she was to have a proper family. He might have been only 12 when his father disowned him, but he'd never really cared about the wealth. It was the stuff that most people took for granted that he longed for. Knowing that you were loved and important, that you would be missed if something happened to you would probably top of the list – the simple stuff. And really, no one wanted to hear any sad poor little rich kid's horror stories, which is why he stayed mum about his early life. How could his childhood compare with kids raised in abject poverty when he'd always had enough to eat, even if there hadn't been anyone who cared enough to make sure that he actually did? So, he sucked it up and got on with things, but he wished everyone else could let it go that he was DiNozzo Junior. Thankfully, no one seemed to realise that his mother's English family was even richer than his dad, and that they were equally disinterested in him, too.

Speaking of metaphors, how ironic was it that here he was smiling, singing and dancing in a crowd of other performers, pretending to be someone he wasn't? All the while, inside he fought demons of doubt, insecurity and melancholy. So, how was that any different from his routine existence? He'd always felt that his life was one long performance, trying to conceal who he really was since the real Anthony couldn't be good enough since even his own family couldn't accept his flaws, and family was supposed to accept you unconditionally.

He supposed that was why his job and working with Gibbs was so important to him. He desperately wanted to believe that if he could learn to follow all his boss' rules, those unwritten and those that were numbered, that he would accept him despite his obvious and numerous flaws. So, even when Gibbs was harsh and made him doubt his place on the team, he knew that it was because he was a seriously flawed individual, but at least Gibbs hadn't given up on him. One day he hoped to make Gibbs proud of him and vindicate his mentor's decision to give him a chance way back in Baltimore.

Interrupting his maudlin mental meandering and self-indulgent introspection, his com cackled to life and Tony switched to focused professional in an instant. One of their NY field agents spotted Henty making his way towards Admiral Steele, and they started to zero in to arrest him. Steele was putting on an act worthy of an Oscar as he berated the kidnapper and demanded to know when his granddaughter would be released. Then everything went to Hell in a hand basket, although he had to think that a hand basket wouldn't last long in Hell. Well, if Hell was anything like Dante's inferno, but then perhaps that was the point of the adage.

Anyway… something or someone spooked their dirtbag and Henty grabbed the Admiral and dragged him out into the parade, literally right in front of Tony and the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang performers. Tony could see the potential for things to turn ugly very quickly as NCIS agents and NYPD cops converged on the unfolding hostage drama. Knowing that Henty wouldn't be expecting an attack to come from the performers, Tony decided that those grim summers after his mother died when he'd been shipped off to camp and he'd learned how to clog hadn't been as useless as he'd thought. Apart from being a mean clogger, he was also one Hell of a knife thrower.

Mind you, if he used his knife the Mayor would probably have apoplexy and SecNav would likely ship him to off to Alaska, but just because he couldn't use his knife, didn't mean he couldn't use his throwing arm, did it? Grabbing several pieces of fruit that were part of the props for one of the performers, Tony took several deep breaths as he aimed for Henty's right arm that was holding Admiral Steele while he clutched his gun in his left, waving it menacingly at the crowd. Speaking into his com requesting that his colleagues distract him, Special Agent Jameson yelled at the crowd to get down and identifying himself as a federal agent, ordered Henty to throw down his gun and surrender. It was what Tony had been waiting for and Tony let fly with a deadly throw of a navel orange followed seconds later by another one of a particularly unripe hard blood grapefruit. Both throws connected with their target and caught him completely by surprise - _ ow, that's gotta hurt, and leave a Hell of a bruise -_ and thankfully also threw their dirtbag's balance completely awry.

As the admiral sensed his opportunity and managed to pull away, Henty was also able to stumble back into the crowd and evade several agents and cops who were all on his tail. Alerting Gibbs and Todd that Henty was heading in their direction, Tony broke cover to join the chase although he guessed he had already done that when he freed Admiral Steele. Now they had to try to make sure that he didn't take someone else.

Just as he'd predicted, Henty used the crowd to duck and weave as he attempted to escape. When they made their way parallel to the Barbie float, he gave Cate the heads up to get ready in case he joined the parade again. When he didn't, the crowd was startled when one of Barbie's friends leapt off the float brandish a gun and running up the side if the parade route beside the procession. Tony figured that lots of little girls were going to be requesting Cop Barbie from Santa this Christmas after seeing the parade. He had a momentary flash of Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality.

As Henty was approaching Gibbs' float at the front end of the parade, the Boss was waiting like a lethal predator - well, okay - a lanky lethal Goofy, but still a sniper nevertheless. The LEOs and several of their own agents were slowly but inexorably driving him back into the open, back toward the empty space between the crowd and the floats. Finally they corralled him back into the open, and with Cate and Tony coming up on his flank on the other side of the parade along with a heap of cops and fellow agents, Gibbs was preparing to take a shot, knowing there could be no collateral damage, not unless he wasn't too attached to his balls, so he waited until he was sure of his shot. As he fired, one of Donald Duck's nephews in all the chaos of seeing an armed badass Goofy, bumped into the Boss sending his shot wide of the mark, but fortunately, it didn't hit anyone else. Tony didn't know if it was Huey, Dewey or Louie, but Gibbs had been totally pissed and he figured it was probably lucky that Gibbs didn't know either or he might have shot them!

Anyway, the upshot was that Lloyd managed to slip underneath the giant purple balloon of the perennial crowd favourite Barney, rolling under the dinosaur and exiting at the other side of the parade and into the waiting arms of Cate, Tony, Sergeant Thoms, Special Agent Jameson and a posse of NYPD, who quickly disarmed him and hauled him to his feet, arresting him. Calling into his com that the dirtbag was secure, Tony jumped as he heard the familiar sound of a gunshot as Barney collapsed beside them. According to witnesses, Goofy got angry and shot Barney in the foot, although authorities insisted that Barney had been damaged by a streetlight. SecNav and the NY Mayor were both ropable, especially when Gibbs hadn't even tried to sugar coat his attack on an innocent balloon.

End of flashback:

Things had gotten pretty messy after what should have been a celebration for the successful conclusion of the case. They'd managed to co-ordinate with the NYPD without any spilling of blood (although Cate and Sergeant Thoms had come close) and no one had been hurt… well, apart from some pretty wicked bruising from his direct hit on Henty with a deadly fruit… and Barney getting his foot shot off in front of a whole lot of witnesses.

When asked to justify his actions in attacking a harmless and much loved dinosaur, Gibbs had explained unrepentantly that the purple jackass had been pissing him off since the start of the parade and then Barney aided and abetted the escape of Henty, making him an accessory after the fact. When the Mayor demanded to know how an innocent much loved children's icon could possibly have pissed him off, he replied somewhat cryptically and utterly incomprehensibly, My Princess loved that purple monstrosity and since she isn't enjoying Thanksgiving neither should he."

Neither of those explanations were likely to win him any favours with the Powers-That-Be (and it didn't by the way), especially when the younger spectators had almost started a riot after witnessing the callous maiming of their beloved Barney by a mean, vicious Goofy. Adults, meanwhile, were divided into two distinct camps. Those that were seriously concerned about their offspring's traumatisation and those that were celebrating the demise of the purple dinosaur because of the amount of hard-earned money they had spent on buying Barney toys and merchandise which would probably rival the Gross National Product of a small third world nation.

Any way you spun it, Tony concluded it had gotten pretty damned ugly, and according to SecNav, the Disney Corporation was threatening to sue the Navy for damages caused to the reputation of Goofy, who they insisted was an avowed pacifist and registered conscientious objector. The Mayor was issuing a series of press releases about the tragic accident to befall Barney and providing medical updates, assuring everyone that Barney was in fact fine and would make a full recovery and would return to the parade in 2006. Then the owners of Barney got in on the act, deciding to sue both Disney and the Navy for the attempted murder of Barney. They were alleging it was a government/multi-conglomerate conspiracy to rob a generation of its favourite character.

Although the whole thing seemed ludicrous, Tony figured the lawyers smelled the chance to make some serious cash. Consequently, Gibbs was extremely unpopular in the rarefied circles of government, both local and federal. The only thing that saved his ass was that they had found Courtney-Jane and captured her kidnappers, and had the eternal gratitude of Admiral Steele.

Sinking back into the luxurious leather seat as they approached the national capital, Tony stared out the window of the plane and wondered how Ernie was making out with the LOLs. Rae had left him a voicemail to say that he was spending the day with them and he was going to be coddled. With a bit of luck, he decided he might still make it in time for dinner, perhaps even manage a power nap for 30 minutes to make up for last night.

End Notes:

According to my research, there were two casualties during the 2005 parade which included the M & M and the Barney balloons being damaged by street lighting although I am not sure how Barney's foot managed to be damaged frankly. With that fact in mind, I decided to weave fact and fiction together and come up with a alternative explanation. I also have no idea if NYPD has undercover cops in the parade although it isn't a completely unreasonable theory.


End file.
